Porn: What's the Harm? Page #7

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Internet Watch Foundation or IWF.

'It's their job to identify

'and remove child sexual abuse

images from the internet.

'Last year, their hotline received

50,000 calls and e-mails

'tipping them off about

such images on the net.

'And analysts here are finding that

more and more of those images

'are photographs and videos

'originally posted by young people

on social networking sites.'

We've certainly seen a big rise in

the last few years in the amount of

self-generated content

featuring young people.

This would be an example of

an adult website

which accepts user-generated

content.

The reason everything is so

pixellated right now is because

we would be committing an offence

by actually looking at these images

and downloading them. That's right.

These are images that have been

taken from a Facebook profile,

and you can see, it says here,

"This is dedicated to

self-shot amateur teens."

"All teens, all curvy,

with big tits only."

Again another adult website

with collections,

specifically of young teens.

Several descriptions of the type of

content you can expect to see there.

And down there we have

"Jail bait collection."

So anyone can go on to

Facebook or Twitter,

and let's say someone doesn't

have a protected account,

they can just take that picture

off... That's the problem, yes.

..then they can put it anywhere.

Where is the worst place that

these photos can end up?

We have seen, over the last couple

of years, this content is starting

to migrate onto the traditional

commercial child sexual abuse sites.

So they can be sold?

And this content is now

being sold commercially.

This is a sanitised screenshot of

an extremely prolific commercial

child sex distribution website.

It claims to have 723 webcam

captures available for purchase.

The youngest victim is between

the age of three and six.

The three to six-year-old would not

have generated that themselves.

It was not generated by them

but there are other individuals

in the room who are assessed

as being slightly older.

Other children being involved,

performing sex acts.

They're all children.

I didn't expect to learn quite

so much today, I knew what they did

was so incredibly important,

I knew it was very serious,

but I don't think I realised

how accessible such

explicit material is.

'Also I found it quite staggering

to realise the consequence of

'something as simple as a sext

and realise how fast the process is,

'that it can literally just

take over your life.'

I am so glad that every

boyfriend I've had before now

was before picture messaging.

I can't even tell you.

It's terrifying.

'If there are clear

consequences for young people

'when it comes to sexting

and posting sexual images,

'the effects of childhood exposure

to porn are harder to gauge.

'In February, news broke

that a 12-year-old boy

'raped his seven-year-old sister

'after watching hardcore

pornography on the internet.

'Blackburn Youth Court heard that

he'd watched it with friends

'and gained

"a desire to try it out."

'With other sexual crimes

frequently linked to porn,

'it's easy to see why parents

and politicians are so concerned.

'Sally is in her early 20s.

'She says she was raped by someone

she thought was a friend.

'She was drunk at the time

'and was slipping in and out of

consciousness.

'She's convinced pornography

played a part in the attack.'

I actually came across

a blog that they had

and it was mostly made up of

pornographic images.

Erm, and that made it quite

clear to me how his mind worked

and the opinion that he had

of women.

That they were... They just

existed to be used in porn.

It just made me realise that for

certain people that do these things

it's just so ingrained in

their mind that that's OK.

You mean rape? Yeah. Uh-huh.

'Sally didn't report

the rape to the police

'because she didn't think

she'd be believed.

'But she did seek support

from Rape Crisis.'

So what nature of pornography

was on his blog?

Erm, it was mostly soft porn.

But there were other images

that were quite graphic.

And a lot of them sort of

revolved around women being used

and being abused, and women having

no control over what was going on.

So do you think that that had an

influence on what he did to you?

Yeah, because I feel

as though seeing that,

it made it clear to me that

that was what he was interested in

and that he thought that

that was completely normal,

and for him to just think that

I was an object that he could use

seemed so similar to

the images that I saw.

'Everything I've seen and heard

makes me convinced

'that children need to

learn about porn,

'so they can understand the risks

and put it into context.

'But most schools

don't want to teach it,

'partly because it's

so controversial,

'but also because they can have

so much trouble

'teaching even the most

basic sex education.

'Regulator Ofsted says

the sex education

'in a third of English schools

isn't up to scratch,

'while in Scotland there's

no obligation to teach it all.

'But there are schools like the

Limes College in South London

'where they believe the dangers of

porn can no longer be ignored.'

"Pornography shows men and women

"as equal partners in a

sexual relationship."

They're not equal partners at all.

If you see a porn video,

the woman is like the dogsbody.

The man can do whatever

he wants to that woman.

No respect towards a woman at all.

You guys agree?

Yeah. Yeah?

'Sex education consultant Lynnette

Smith has been going into schools

'in North Lincolnshire for 20 years,

'and she is concerned about what

she's hearing from teenage boys.'

We're asked quite often,

and this is not just at one school

but several schools...

"If I'm being intimate, or if

I'm trying it on with a girl

"and she doesn't like it,

"if I keep going and going, she will

finally like it, won't she?"

When we first started

getting these questions,

we started exploring this,

and it links back to what

they're seeing on pornography.

'When porn is something

so many kids are being exposed to,

'I can see why people like Lynette

'say schools need to adapt what

they teach to keep up with that.

'But just how young should

the process start?

'I'm about to get a shock.'

I'm slightly surprised cos when

we said we were going to a school,

I didn't know it would be a primary.

I mean, these are kids

who are sort of 10 and under,

and we're having a

sex education lesson today.

It's going to be...I mean,

the kids are going to be

learning about pornography,

which is slightly terrifying

that there is even a need to educate

such young children about porn.

This should be interesting.

'And then I discover that it's

the Year Ones, five-year-olds,

'who will be getting this lesson.

'So, not surprisingly,

'that means worried parents

need to be reassured.'

I always like to have

a meeting with parents

so you know exactly what I'm

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